Renaissance Boston Waterfront Hotel, $149 per room per night
The brand new 471-room Renaissance Boston Waterfront Hotel is offering a discount of up to 50 percent for weekend stays. The hotel has a fitness center, a pool, spa-treatment rooms, and a restaurant. It's located on the South Boston waterfront, an up-and-coming area that can still feel desolate at night. Nearby attractions include the Institute of Contemporary Art, the Boston Children's Museum, the New England Aquarium, and the Harpoon Brewery. Reduced rates start from $149 per room based on double occupancy.
When: Friday and Saturday nights from Feb. 15 to Mar. 22, 2008.
Details: Hotel taxes are an additional 12.45 percent. The discount in reflected in the listed rate.
Contact: 617/338-4111, renaissanceboston.com.
The Colonnade Hotel, $368 per room for 2 nights
The Frosty Fridays package at the Colonnade, home to the city's only rooftop pool, includes a two-night stay in the hotel in the fashionable Back Bay neighborhood. Package perks include hot chocolate for two at Brasserie JO, complimentary overnight parking, and a choice between two complimentary tickets to the Old Town Trolley or admission and skating rentals for two at the Boston Common Frog Pond Skating Rink. (We included the Frog Pond in our roundup of Top 10 Ice-Skating Rinks.) The rate for Saturday night is $349, and the price you'll pay for your Friday night stay corresponds to the temperature outside, as determined by a 5 p.m. reading by the National Weather Service; you'll be charged one dollar per degree Fahrenheit. The $368 rate quoted above is based on a Friday night temperature of 19 degrees.
When: Friday and Saturday nights through Mar. 31, 2008.
Details: Hotel taxes are an additional 12.45 percent.
Contact: 800/962-3030, colonnadehotel.com.
If you're happy to forgo the extra trappings of a hotel package, here are some reliable year-round bargain lodgings:
On a busy but attractive residential street near boutique-heavy Newbury Street and the Harvard Bridge, 463 Beacon Street Guesthouse has rooms that offer spaciousness, king-size beds, and big bay windows. Be warned, though, that there is no elevator and that some rooms have shared bathrooms. Rates start at $59 per room per night or $295 per week (seven nights) through the end of February and from $79 per room per night from March to December (no weekly discount during most of the year).
Newbury Guest House, converted from three 19th-century brick town houses, is in a prime location on the most happening street—Newbury—in Back Bay. All 32 rooms have classic Victorian furnishings, hardwood floors, and queen-size beds. Rates start at $99 per room per night.
The Copley Inn, in what was once a Back Bay apartment building, rents out 21 primly decorated studios with fully equipped kitchens. Although rooms are on the small side, high ceilings and bay windows make them feel airy (they're spread over three floors, with no elevator). Rates start as low as $105 per room per night for January and February stays.
Getting there: The lowest round-trip fares we found on a recent SideStep search for weekend travel to Boston in mid-January are $179 from New York City (JetBlue), $242 from Chicago (JetBlue), $283 from Houston (US Airways), $303 from Miami (AirTran), and $319 from Seattle (JetBlue), and $374 from L.A. (AirTran).
Read these guidelines before booking any Real Deal, and check the local weather forecast at BudgetTravel.com before you hit the road.